Dive boat investigators serve search warrants, release names of 22 victims
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By Marissa Nall Monday, September 9th, 2019
As investigators poured over evidence seized over the weekend, efforts to salvage the remains of the dive boat Conception remained stalled Sept. 9 a week after the deadliest maritime disaster in decades.
Investigators served search warrants at Santa Barbara-based Truth Aquatics and the Sea Landing dive center Sept. 8 as part of a probe into the Labor Day fire aboard the Conception, but high winds kept efforts to salvage the remains of the vessel on hold.
A joint investigation between the FBI, U.S. Coast Guard, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Attorney’s Office gathered evidence at the businesses and on Truth Aquatics’ other two vessels, Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Lt. Eric Raney told the Business Times. The terms of the warrants were sealed as part of the ongoing investigation.
The Sheriff’s Office released the names of 22 of the 33 victims that had been recovered from the wreckage, after their identities were confirmed and their families were notified. They ranged in age from 17 to 62, and the preliminary list indicated that only three had lived in the Tri-Counties. Of the names released, 19 were California residents, two were from Arizona and one lived in Tennessee.
Search and recovery efforts were still underway for the final missing passenger, but were hindered by strong winds and currents that kept crews from being able to flip the overturned hull of the boat and bring it to the surface.
Some of the victims’ names, ages and place of residence are:
Raymond “Scott” Chan 59 M Los Altos, CA
Justin Carroll Dignam 58 M Anaheim, CA
Daniel Garcia 46 M Berkeley, CA
Marybeth Guiney 51 F Santa Monica, CA
Yulia Krashennaya 40 F Berkeley, CA
Alexandra Kurtz 26 F Santa Barbara, CA
Caroline McLaughlin 35 F Oakland, CA
Ted Strom 62 M Germantown, TN
Wei Tan 26 F Goleta, CA
Kendra Chan 26 F Oxnard, CA
Angela Rose Quitasol 28 F Stockton, CA
Evan Michel Quitasol 37 F Stockton, CA
Nicole Storm Quitasol 31 F Imperial Beach, CA
Michael Quitasol 62 M Stockton, CA
Carol Diana Adamic 60 F Santa Cruz, CA
Andrew Fritz 40 M Sacramento, CA
Charles McIlvain 44 M Santa Monica, CA
Steven Salika 55 M Santa Cruz, CA
Tia Salika-Adamic 17 F Santa Cruz, CA
Neal Gustav Baltz 42 M Phoenix, AZ
Patricia Ann Beitzinger 48 F Chandler, AZ
Vaidehi Campbell 41 F Felton, CA